Awards

• Short-listed for Washington State Book Award 2017
• Winner of Washington State Book Award 2017

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9780393353587

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Reviews

With 1,500 potentially active volcanoes worldwide, this is an urgent reminder of the need for advances in the field. -- Nature ... Olson is a gifted science communicator... -- Physics World Steve Olson not only tells their personal stories, but also turns the tension between the science and the cultural assumptions at play on that day into a drama that reads like a tragic thriller. -- Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature 2016 Shortlist - UKClimbing.com In Mr. Olson's telling, [the survivors'] stories read like urgent fiction... These vignettes lend a human face to an event that has become associated largely with geology. -- The Wall Street Journal

"""With 1,500 potentially active volcanoes worldwide, this is an urgent reminder of the need for advances in the field."" -- Nature ""... Olson is a gifted science communicator…"" -- Physics World ""Steve Olson not only tells their personal stories, but also turns the tension between the science and the cultural assumptions at play on that day into a drama that reads like a tragic thriller."" -- Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature 2016 Shortlist - UKClimbing.com ""In Mr. Olson’s telling, [the survivors’] stories read like urgent fiction… These vignettes lend a human face to an event that has become associated largely with geology."" -- The Wall Street Journal"

As Steve Olson reminds us in his vividly reported new history ... what happened on May 18, 1980, in the primordial thickets of the Pacific Northwest, was an enormous, multi-faceted event... This engaging book maneuvers deftly along the way toward impact. -- Mark Damsker - USA Today Olson intercuts stories of victims including David Johnston, the volcanologist who was monitoring the explosion, with an account of its impact on science-such as popularizing the use of lidar. With 1,500 potentially active volcanoes worldwide, this is an urgent reminder of the need for advances in the field. -- Nature In Mr. Olson's telling, [the survivors'] stories read like urgent fiction...These vignettes lend a human face to an event that has become associated largely with geology. -- Michael O'Donnell - Wall Street Journal In his evocative and convincing new book, author Steve Olson reveals that the eruption-the most powerful natural disaster to ever strike the US-is much more than a horror show...He has a bigger picture in mind, one of the eruption's role as a touchstone for an evolving society and natural world. -- Randy Dotinga - Christian Science Monitor Olson brings cinematic structure to descriptions of the events surrounding the eruption of Mount St. Helens...[A] detailed and human-centered look at a terrible disaster. -- Publisher's Weekly A first-class, meticulously crafted piece of reportage that is as exciting as it is informative-and will long stand as a classic of descriptive narrative of the biggest American volcanic eruption of all our lifetimes-or so we all hope! -- Simon Winchester, author of Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded Olson and his truly groundbreaking Eruption join a rarefied pantheon, where readers can come to understand the most dramatic geological event of our time. This book, as welcome as it is amazing in the depth of its background and the strength of its storytelling, will stand as a stirring and stilling accomplishment. -- Robert Michael Pyle, author of Wintergreen: Rambles in a Ravaged Land and Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide

In Mr. Olson's telling, [the survivors'] stories read like urgent fiction... These vignettes lend a human face to an event that has become associated largely with geology. -- The Wall Street Journal Steve Olson not only tells their personal stories, but also turns the tension between the science and the cultural assumptions at play on that day into a drama that reads like a tragic thriller. -- Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature 2016 Shortlist - UKClimbing.com ... Olson is a gifted science communicator... -- Physics World With 1,500 potentially active volcanoes worldwide, this is an urgent reminder of the need for advances in the field. -- Nature

Author Information

Steve Olson is the author of Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens (winner of a Washington State Book Award), Mapping Human History (a finalist for the National Book Award), and other books. He has written for the Atlantic, Science, Smithsonian, and more. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

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